Mission Moment 3.4.26

Eddie Aldape
Field Personnel in Almeria, Spain

God has a way of turning the worst days in our ministry lives into the greatest blessings. It is like turning ordinary water into the best wine.

While serving in India, after the long process of renewing our residential permits, we were told that we needed to get new visas. We had business visas at the time, but the new requirement had come into effect, and we could not meet it. The idea was to go to Thailand for a week or so, apply for some other type of visa and return to the ministry we loved. We were also told we could return once we had new visas.

We packed a small suitcase and headed to Bangkok. As we were going through immigration, we were asked to step aside. Our passports were stamped and written across the stamp, in red ink it said, “UNDESIRABLE.” Our hearts sank and we could not stop crying. It was as if we had lost a loved one. We sat there asking God if we had done something wrong.

After applying three times for new visas and being declined, it was clear that our time in India was over. They were not going to let us return. Right in the midst of our despair, rays of sunshine started coming through our dark gloom. The leaders we had trained were finally taking up their leadership posts and God started doing God’s thing. As long as we were there, they depended on us to lead. Our goal had always been to work ourselves out of a job and that is just what had happened. 

We could not see it at the time, but that is what we had been praying for. Being as stubborn as I am, God had to get us out of there one way or another. The process hurt, but the results have been glorious. Genesis 50:20 states: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” 

A Blessing for Traveling in the Dark
By Jan Richardson in Circle of Grace

Go slow
if you can.
Slower.
More slowly still.|
Friendly dark
or fearsome,
this is no place
to break your neck
by rushing,
by running,
by crashing into
what you cannot see.
Then again,
it is true:
different darks
have different tasks,
and if you
have arrived here unawares,
if you have come
in peril
or in pain,
this might be no place
you should dawdle.
I do not know
what these shadows
ask of you,
what they might hold
that means you good
or ill.
It is not for me
to reckon
whether you should linger
or you should leave.
But this is what
I can ask for you:
That in the darkness
there be a blessing.
That in the shadows
there be a welcome. 
That in the night
you be encompassed
your name.

Pray. . .Give. . .Go.

Midweek Meals

TONIGHT, March 4 at 5:15 p.m.*
*Note the change in time this week.

Our winter midweek meals will continue tonight at 5:15 p.m. in the MFC. Dinner this evening will be a taco bar with all the trimmings. 
We look forward to seeing you there!

Giving the Jesus Way

United Christian Ministries is in need of macaroni and cheese.

 To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.  Thank you!

Midweek Meals

Our winter mid-week meals will continue tonight at 5:30 p.m. in the MFC. Dinner this evening will be meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, roll & dessert.  We look forward to seeing you there!

1st Explorers After-School Program Recap

This week at After School was all about the winter Olympics. We talked about the Olympics and watched a few of the events. We also learned about the Olympics by going over a small activity book that covered where the games were being held and discussing all the sports being played. The weather was also very nice, and we played outside a fair amount.

The First Explorers After-School program needs 20 quart jars and lids for a craft project ASAP. You may leave them on the cart at the back door or in the Loving Kindness Room. Thank you!

Mission Moment 2.25.26

Kelly Adams
CBF Director of Clergy Support Ecosystem

You are invited to read the following blessing in the style of Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a practice of meditative reading in which a passage is read two to three times to listen for how God is speaking through it. As you read this blessing a few times, listen “with the ear of your heart” and see if you can identify a word or phrase that the Holy Spirit points out to you today. You may take this word or phrase to God in prayer, then close your time with a final reading of the blessing.

A Blessing for When You Know You Need to Change (but Don’t Want to)
The world is changing every day, every hour, every minute
Some changes we embrace—
We learn the new software at work
We make new friends
We trade in the old car for a new one

Some changes we resist
Because they ask too much of us
We don’t want to change that
Because it means something in us might have to change, too,
We acknowledge that we are holding on too tightly
But change is hard
And changing our mind, our views, our values, our practices
Comes with too many questions
And too much judgment

Blessed are you when you know you need to change
You have done the hard work of noticing the people and world around you
You are responding to an inner stirring
Perhaps of the Holy Spirit?
Toward newness
May this stirring give you clarity and tenacity
To take the next step
And make the change(s) you acknowledge you need

God who knows our hearts,
Let the work of making all things new begin in us
And make us faithful to embrace renewal in ourselves
So that we can keep noticing the newness in the world
Which points to where we can join you at work
Serving and loving our neighbors

Gift us with companions who listen with empathy
And affirm these changes without judgment
And do not leave us content
But keep us ever attuned to the world and to the Holy Spirit
So that maybe next time, we will be less resistant
And more ready to embrace the ways you are calling us
To be a more faithful reflection of your love to our world.
Amen.

Pray. . .Give. . .Go.

Mission Moment 2.18.26

Holly Hatton
Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church, Memphis, TN

”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3 

Have you ever been in a situation so uncomfortable that you had to look away? Maybe the following scenarios sound familiar. At a piano recital, when a student plays the wrong note and then struggles to recover, do you feel the need to bury your face in the recital program? At the grocery store, when a kid is throwing a fit and their parent is clearly at the end of their rope, do you suddenly become very interested in the label of the cereal box you’re holding? In your car, at a stoplight, with a person next to you on the median asking for assistance, does tuning the car radio become your number one priority? 

Most of us are not comfortable bearing witness to someone else’s discomfort. What lengths will you go to in order to avoid unpleasantness and confrontation? For me, the answer is GREAT lengths! Sometimes we turn away from uncomfortable situations in order to save others from embarrassment or to save ourselves from embarrassment. Sometimes, we turn away out of pure denial—if we don’t see our neighbor’s plight, then we don’t have to share in it.

If you are like me, you do your best to avoid anything that might disrupt your peace. But here’s the thing: Jesus is disruptive. He directs our gaze toward what matters and draws us close to it. When we lean into our own unease and share in the discomfort of others, we open our hearts to the suffering in the world and become more kind and loving people. 

It takes determination, presence and practice to see discomfort as a blessing, but this is how we come close to Jesus. When the student at the recital plays a wrong note, hold your head up and project encouragement out of your eyeballs toward them. When the parent at the store is struggling with a fussy kid, throw them a rope and  say, “Man, I’ve had those days too!” When you’ve got nothing to give to the person in the median, look them in the eye and give them a smile and a nod. Jesus blessed the poor in spirit. May God bless us all with discomfort, for it is in this that we will find the kingdom of heaven.

A Blessing for Discomfort
Lord, help us to see discomfort as a blessing.
May our unease make us more aware of the suffering of others.
Direct our gaze that we may see the plight of our neighbors. 
May our discomfort shake us out of our complacency and into acts of love and kindness.
Amen. 

Pray. . .Give. . .Go.

Ash Wednesday Service and Midweek Meal

We will have our Ash Wednesday service at 6:15 p.m. following the midweek meal this Wednesday, February 18. Music will be presented by Bob Holquist and Kim Shuler.

Our meal will be lasagna, salad, roll and dessert. We look forward to seeing you there!

1st Explorers After-School Program Reca

This week we talked about Kindness and Valentine’s Day at After School. We watched several videos on kindness. And we did several crafts and coloring sheets around kindness and love. A few of the GAs went around town and handed out hand-drawn Valentine’s Day cards to some of the businesses.

The First Explorers After-School program needs 20 quart jars and lids for a craft project ASAP. You may leave them on the cart at the back door or in the Loving Kindness Room. Thank you!

Giving the Jesus Way

United Christian Ministries is in need of macaroni and cheese.

 To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive.  Thank you!